During
the years between the wars, naval aviation became an integral part of the
U.S. Fleet -- a subordinated part, but a part nonetheless. Since the 1920s,
Fleet Problems had shown that aerial scouting was far more effective and
efficent than the old cruiser scouting lines.
With the improving performance
of planes, so did improve the standing of the carrier force and the naval
aviation part of the fleet in general, until in 1941, the Pearl Harbor
attack left the clear impression that the the battleship had been superceeded.
This section is devoted
to the aircraft that made the carriers weapons; the men who piloted and
crewed them; and the squadrons which men and machines formed.